Although the story and characters in P.S. Be Eleven come from my imagination, I am beholden to various individuals I’ve met on Herkimer Street, specifically Julie on Troy Avenue and Mark on New York Avenue, for sharing their recollections of Bedford-Stuyvesant of the past. Both Brooklynites generously gave me their time and answered my many questions, but both declined to give their last names. I am especially grateful for the extensive resources of the Brooklyn Collection at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, and for its amazing research librarian, June Koffi, who scoured the “morgue” for precious articles to aid me in my storytelling. I must thank Peter Garcia, for answering my military-related questions as well as for talking about his days of summer employment in Brooklyn as a teen during the early seventies. I also posthumously thank my mother, Miss Essie, for not throwing out my diaries and trunkful of writing. Those writings allowed me to tap into ages eleven and twelve in 1968 and 1969.
I thank my fellow writers at the Vermont College of Fine Arts for creating a community around me of people who think in story.
Most of all, I am boundlessly appreciative of everyone at HarperCollins for supporting P.S. Be Eleven wholeheartedly and believing there was more to tell about Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern. I am especially indebted to Susan Katz, Kate Jackson, Barbara Lalicki, Patty Rosati, Molly Thomas, Robin Pinto, Stephanie Macy, Tony Hirt, Kim VandeWater, Andrea Martin, and soul sister number one, Rosemary Brosnan, who also shares these memories.